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Miscellaneous Giant Serpents

Left: In December 1964, French photographer Robert Serrec was on vacation in Queensland, Australia, when he allegedly took the photograph of a lifetime -- or faked it.

He was paddling rowboats with a group of family and friends in shallow waters off Hook Island, near the Queensland coast, when he says a bizarre creature appeared beneath the waves.

Serrec described the monster as an enormous, dark-colored snake with the shape of a giant tadpole. It had a huge reptilian head and a slender, waving body that stretched to about 75-80 feet.

Serrec said there seemed to be a wounded area on the creature's back.

One of Serrec's photos presents a very clear and striking image that distinguishes it from the average blurred, murky sea monster picture. Serrec also shot some movie camera footage underwater, but it did not turn out with any distinct detail.

Serrec's photo and his story have been widely discredited as a hoax. The main argument against the photo is that it is simply too clear -- it looks so perfect and so overly "real" that many experts believe, ironically, that it must have been staged.

It is also extremely difficult to judge the scale of the supposed creature. The position of the tiny man in the rowboat above the monster creates the visual impression that the monster must be gigantic, but it could actually be a small prop photographed at very close range, with the rowboat off in the far distance.

Right:Colonel Rene van Lierde was piloting his helicopter over the Katanga province of the Belgian Congo. Suddenly a gigantic snake reared up as if to attack his helicopter.

He lifted up and took several photos of the snake and continued on his journey.

His estimate of the size of the snake was 40-50 feet, and that is the same estimation made by zoologists who later examined the photo. Allegedly, giant anacondas have been measured up to 130 feet. The largest scientifically measured snake was a 32 foot long reticulated python killed in Indonesia as the world's longest snake.

2003 Nessie Sighting with Photo

Nessie mania returned to Scotland yesterday after new pictures were printed of Scotland’s most reclusive resident. The new photos appeared to show a slimmer Loch Ness monster, prompting fervent speculation that the living dinosaur could have been pregnant.

Instead of the usual fleeting glimpse afforded her followers, Nessie stayed above the surface long enough for retired printer Roy Johnston to take at least four photographs showing the suspiciously snake-like Nessie arching out of the water and returning to it with a splash. The new photographs, printed in yesterday’s Daily Mail, prompted an immediate debate as to whether they are genuine.

Johnston, 63, said he and his wife, Janet, had been nearing the end of a Highlands driving holiday two weeks ago when he decided to stop in a lay-by near the loch. He made his way to the loch’s edge at around 9am and had been standing there only a few minutes before the "creature" emerged.

"I thought I was going mad," he said. "The first thought that sprang into my mind was, ‘That’s an elephant.’ I know it sounds silly but it looked like a trunk. It was the same length and width.

"I wondered if the creature was a conger eel, but it was way too big for that. It was about seven or eight feet out of the water and it was obvious that there was more of it underneath the surface."

The sighting has delighted tourism businesses in the area. Malaina Krott-Thiarry, a worker at a tourist information centre close to the loch, said: "I have no idea what to make of these pictures, but I think they’re good news for the area. This might lead to a boost for business later this year or next year."

Lawrence Sear, the managing editor of the Daily Mail, said there was absolutely no sign the photographs had been doctored. "We collected the negatives from Mr Johnston and they were absolutely genuine. They have not been manipulated at any stage," he said.

"Who knows whether the images are of the Loch Ness monster or not? All we can say is that those pictures are genuine and have not been doctored." But Scotland on Sunday’s picture editor, Kayt Turner, said there was room for doubt.

The Daily Mail published a sequence of pictures to represent the object emerging from the water and then submerging. But the third picture in the sequence, representing the splash of water, was appreciably lighter in colour than the previous two images.

Turner said: "Those pictures were not taken in sequence." A picture editor for 15 years, she added: "Anyone with a spare £500 can get the equipment needed to digitally manipulate this kind of image, using a simple software package such as Photoshop. All you need is a scanner and a computer.

"Looking at this image it is impossible to tell if there has been any manipulation. It would be very simple to take a picture of an object and place it in the loch. "The only way you could be sure they are genuine would be to see the original negatives."

The pictures have started a squabble between the Daily Mail and the News of the World. The latter is expected to pour cold water over the sighting, as it has signed up a Nessie expert to analyse the pictures.

The expert, Adrian Shine, who has spent 20 years in a scientific quest for Nessie, was barred from talking to Scotland on Sunday but a friend said: "We’re all very sceptical."

September 2002 "Champ" & Friends Sighting w/Video

Anonymous amateur takes video of three Champ-like sea serpents. "It is the real thing! These animals are HUGE! There´s two 20 footers on the video and a third that´s even bigger!".

The man who took the video has asked to be anonymous. The time was 5.30 PM on the night of 8 September 2002, and the place the mouth of Otter Creek, Ferrisburgh in Vermont, USA.

Dennis J. Hall: "The witness who took the footage calmly noticed that the two smaller serpents were 20 foot long and the biggest one 40 feet. The largest one turned up very close to his boat, while the others surfaced a a little farther away. They were so close he could smell them!".

Stayed on the surface

"There was many boats on the mirror-calm lake that evening but when the three serpents discovered a shoal of fish nearby, they took no notice of the witnesses but started to chase the school and stayed on the surface. They swam a distance of half a mile in just a couple of minutes".

"Above still shows the first sea serpent, moving in a classic vertical undulation over the surface, moving at full speed towards the American side of Lake Champlain"...

"The video is what the world has been waiting for, but must certainly be analyzed before scientists can confirm it´s genuine. I´m myself in no doubt, and the man who took it stands with his two feet steadily on the ground and are not even as excited as I am myself", say´s Dennis J. Hall finally.

Source: G.U.S.T.

October 2003 Pterosaur Sighting?

"This picture, I took with my digital camera on October 25, 2003, while taking a train trip to the mountains. It almost looks like this object is ready to swoop down and attack the unsuspecting deer.

As far as I know there was nothing there when this picture was taken. And there was nothing on the lens of the cam

era that could account for this or on the window of the train. I asked other people that were with me if they had seen anything in the sky when I was taking the picture and there response was a negative one. Click Photo for Larger View"